Lilliputian Pico Projectors Progress Rental Tech

Businesses rely on several types of technology to function smoothly -- sometimes it's projectors, sometimes it's cameras, and sometimes, it's audio visual equipment.

Modern day smartphones and tablets are combining many of these desirable pieces of equipment in to an ideal, portable package -- which squeezes out the usefulness of notebooks (at least in the corporate sense).

But all of the major IT manufacturers are doing their best to keep up. Tier one computer makers like Lenovo, IBM and others are striving to stay competitive by developing the most creative innovations possible.

And while the competition is fierce, sometimes, this incentive can result in some cutting-edge developments. A few years ago, Texas Instruments (TI), there years ago, developed the concept, known as a "Pico projector." These tiny projectors are designed to be incorporated in other devices and are capable of projecting a video, photo or presentation, full-size on to a wall or screen.

While the Pico projector fad died out, there have been some recent resurrections. Fujitsu has recently unveiled a new series of laptops that feature built-in 40 lumen, 800 x 600 projectors -- that pop out only when needed.

The Fujitsu LifeBook S761 and P771 laptops come equipped with these modular projectors -- but they have pretty decent specs otherwise as well. According to one source over at ProjectorPoint, the new LifeBooks will come with next generation Core i3 or i5 processors, a 160GB hard drive, and 1 GB of ram.

The difference in the S761 and the P771 comes down to screen size and resolution. The former is an HD measuring about 13.3" wide and the latter is a 12.1" WXGA.

The real feature recommending the LifeBook laptops over the offerings of its competitors is its afore-mentioned Pico projector. With mobile devices experiencing something of a renaissance, TI feels like there will be a brand new need for its Pico products.

And according to the writer responses over at Forbes magazine, they might be right in their assumptions.

So brace yourself, laptop and projector rental markets, and prepare for a new resurgence of tiny projector-enhanced models.